Written by Keanny Jimenez, Intern for Waste Management

Rotary is said to be like a family, but what about the other Rotary members around the world? Once every year Rotary hosts an International Rotary Convention. This year it took place in the beautiful city of Atlanta with 40,000 people! Not only were there many sites to see and great food to taste, but they also were exposed to all the cultures brought from every single Rotary member around the world. Frank Griffith convinced all the Arcadia members at the convention to get red polo shirts which they wore to the club meeting. Arcadia club members who attended were Pat Dolphin, Brad Miller, Kathy Ellison, Imy Dulake, Rosie Mares, Gina Kim, Tony Parrille and Sam Falzone.
Imy talked about the amazing guest speakers like Bill Gates, Ashton Kutcher, and government officials. Mr. Kutcher brought in the very touchy subject of child sex trafficking. He is starting a non-profit organization to help track the children. “It gave me rotary pride” says Gina Kim. This was Gina’s first convention and she couldn’t have loved it more.
Tony Parrille is talking about making a San Gabriel Valley wide program of saving these child sex slaves. A very worthwhile potential project to look out for. Rosie Mares just loves these conventions so much that it was her fourth time going to a convention. She said, “It opens your eyes to the real reason why you are in Rotary”. Pat talked about all the great dinners they had together getting to know each other and their spouses better. Brad talked about how it was his 3rd international convention and each time he is amazed at what he learns. Sam Falzone learned that you don’t want to rent a car when you go to these conventions….it’s much cheaper and quicker to just schlep around in the shuttle buses they provide you! Kathy shared the upcoming dates and locations for International Conventions: 2018 Toronto; 2019 Germany; 2020 Hawaii, and 2021 Taiwan.